Central Europe trip, Post 10: Vienna

From Friday, January 3rd, to Monday, January 6th, we spent 3 nights in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Despite having been to Austria on a couple of previous trips, as well as earlier in this trip, this was our first time ever in Vienna!

The first night, we walked from our hotel to a well-reviewed restaurant a few blocks away. I'm sure the food was nice, but all I can remember about it now is that Finley was overtired, and the smoking of our fellow restaurant patrons (even though we were in a non-smoking room) was very off-putting! It's hard to believe this was the norm everywhere not so long ago... how times have changed!

Our hotel was a short tram ride from the city centre. On Saturday, we took the tram downtown and set out on foot to see some of the sights along the Ringstrasse (Ring Road). There were certainly some impressive buildings... but it was a chilly day, so a long stop in a café was soon in order!

Tram window sticker beside an accessible seat

The only building we seem to have taken photos of!

In order to escape from the cold - and do more than just look at big buildings - in the afternoon we decided to visit the Kunsthistorisches Museum. We spent the last couple of hours before closing time exploring two excellent and very extensive collections: the Collection of Arms and Armour, and the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments.

We had audio commentary via headphones - including recordings of some of the instruments playing - and learnt a lot about old instruments and suits of armour... although I've forgotten most of it already!

On our walk back to the tram, Ben took some gorgeous shots of a misty winter's evening in Vienna...

The museum

The next day, Sunday, we went to the local meeting, and afterwards were invited to lunch back at the home of one of the couples there, Ann and Andi. Unfortunately we didn't take any photos, but we had a really nice time getting to know them. We actually had quite a few friends in common, as they have spent a lot of time in North America!

The only other thing of note that we did in Vienna was a quick drive-by of a famous building I'd read about: the Hundertwasserhaus, a unique apartment building designed by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. We didn't take any photos... but trust me, you really need to click on this link and check it out!

On Monday, it was time to drive back to Prague for the final 2 nights of our trip. It was nice to have finally visited Vienna, but it's another place we couldn't come close to doing justice to in a single day of sightseeing... a return trip will be needed someday!

To be continued...